No man is an island, said John Donne but then he did not know about Covid-19 and the isolation it imposed. Lockdown was not and is not region-specific – it affected countries across the world and put people into social distancing mode. It became almost impossible for employees to go to their offices. They had to work from home if that option was available or go without pay.
Shops remained closed, travel became a challenge, more people spent larger amounts of time at home browsing the internet and using their mobile apps. The lockdown has seen about 177% increase in daily active users of mobile apps.
Grocery apps saw a peak of over 175% in daily active users. Content and media app usage increased and are holding steady at 40%. Online learning is another area which is up by 20% in the number of daily active users. The daily active users of health apps increased by 13% during the Covid-19 induced lockdown period. 50% of app categories show positive revenue growth with shopping, finance, and lifestyle apps leading the pack. Apps have proved indispensable during the ongoing pandemic.
Work collaboration
Physical distancing is mandatory, but at the same time, one must also work. Remote work seems to be the new norm and apps are gaining importance in facilitating work from home. Nothing illustrates this better than the meteoric rise in the use of Zoom, a video chat and conferencing app, despite its perceived flaws. Employers may hesitate to spend on mobile app development solutions for communications and collaboration right at this moment, but if it becomes a norm then remote work would require the use of a trusted, custom app.
The custom app would go beyond plain video chat to including a CRM plugin and document exchange facility. The app is to be preferred over desktop solutions since it can be used on phones by employees anywhere and at any time. Collaboration apps are not the only ones that forged ahead during the lockdown.
Grocery and shopping apps
People can do without a new mobile or TV or washing machine during the lockdown. However, they cannot do without groceries. Online retailers like Amazon saw a boom in their grocery division and new app launches increased by 177% during the last week of March as people prepared for an extended lockdown. Many regions forbade people from moving out of their homes, especially if they were in containment zones. Apps proved to be a savior in such a scenario, helping them to order groceries and get them delivered to their doorstep.
Without the app, it is likely that many people would have found it impossible to procure food since even retail shops were closed or ran out of stocks due to transport restrictions. If you are in the grocery business and did not take advantage, there still is time to get fast mobile app development solutions and take your business online.
Entertainment
Locked in their homes 24×7, people had very little to do, except work from home – in the case of professionals; or study online – in the case of students. However, what do you do with the rest of your time? You cannot go out to the movies, for a drive, or visit restaurants. Entertainment must come to you and it comes in the form of apps. No wonder Netflix saw an increase in the number of viewers and streaming duration.
Contact tracing
The nature of Coronavirus made it imperative for governments to put in place a method of contact tracing. No surprises that governments made the installation of such apps mandatory in its fight against the virus. It helps the government keep track of infected individuals and also let others know relevant details such as the presence of corona affected individuals in the vicinity or helpline numbers.
There is no doubt that despite the rather intrusive nature of the app, it did help governments and individuals in the fight against Corona. Health is a prime concern and if apps can help, one should take advantage. IoT application development companies can come up with similar apps for the present and apps based on the same contact for tracking and tracing purposes once normal life resumes. Covid-19 made us realize that tracking and tracing can be beneficial in some cases and the same concept can be transplanted to the industry with the help of IoT sensors, Bluetooth and GPS.
Pharmaceuticals and medicine delivery
Some countries did allow pharmacies to operate, but if movement is restricted how do you get to the store? The solution is, of course, an app to help pharmacies go online and let people order drugs from home. The COVID-19 did push other diseases into the background but that does not mean patients did not need medications. Thanks to the rise in the number of apps deployed by pharmacies, supply lines were not disrupted even though shortages remained.
Monetizing apps
As a business, your prime objective is to let apps draw in more customers and keep them engaged. Some businesses did launch apps purely for information and assistance as an indirect form of marketing. Regardless, mobile app development solution providers can also help recoup investment into app development by monetizing apps.
Apps are a necessity during the pandemic not just for business and office work but also for personal needs and family needs. So, you can kill two birds with one stone by monetizing apps. Just engage mobile app developers to push through apps while the going is good. Just look at Jio that tied up with WhatsApp and its parent Facebook to reenergize its JioMart shopping platform.
Choosing the right developer
You see an unprecedented increase in the installs of apps during the pandemic and people are likely to continue to use apps in the future. Choose IoT application development Companies right now since the future is going to be 5G and IoT, used on mobile devices through apps that are purposed for a specific use, not an umbrella app for everything. Whatever you spend, you will recoup.
